The Witch's Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018
Skin Care
Physical Self-Care
Part of basic self-care is making sure you hit the necessities: food, hygiene, sleep, and so forth. Sometimes you shortchange your body, often because you’re uncomfortable within it. One way to become more comfortable in your body is to pay it more attention, to honor and respect it. Making this lovely Body Butter to moisturize your skin is a way of showing yourself a bit of love.
Body Butter
Drinking enough water to hydrate your body from the inside is a goal you should always have. This silky, luxurious Body Butter is a lovely way to treat yourself to well-nourished skin from the outside as well. Make sure you allow the melted mixture to cool; this is what allows you to whip it into lovely, fluffy, silky butter. Makes approximately 1 cup.
What You Need:
♦ 1/4 cup shea butter
♦ 1/4 cup cocoa butter
♦ 1/4 cup coconut oil (solid)
♦ Glass bowl
♦ Medium saucepan 1/3 full of water
♦ Wooden chopstick or craft stick
♦ 1/4 cup sweet almond oil
♦ 10 drops essential oil(s) of your choice (optional)
♦ Hand mixer
♦ 8-ounce glass jar with lid
What to Do:
1. Place the butters and the coconut oil together in the glass bowl.
2. Set the glass bowl on top of the saucepan and warm the saucepan over medium-low heat until the water is simmering. Stir the butters and oils periodically with the wooden stick until they have melted. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in the sweet almond oil.
4. Place the bowl in the fridge about 1 hour, then check to see if the mixture has turned opaque. Look for a texture like soft wax forming. If the mixture has solidified too much, just leave it on the counter for a while to warm up.
5. Remove the bowl from the fridge and add the essential oils, if using. With the hand mixer, start beating the cooled mixture and continue until it’s light and fluffy, the mixture has lightened in color, and the whipped mixture holds its shape on the mixer beaters.
6. Spoon the whipped butter into a glass jar, cap it, and write the name and date on it somewhere.
7. To use, take a dab on your finger and rub it into your skin. A little goes a long way. The Body Butter may feel greasy at first, but it will absorb quickly.
8. If the butter hardens, remelt it with a bit more sweet almond oil, then repeat the cooling and whipping process.
Tip:
♦ You can use other butters or oils when making this. Just remember to substitute solids for solids and liquids for liquids! Also, shea butter can have a very strong scent if it’s unrefined. If it’s too much for you, you have a few options: look for refined shea butter instead; decrease the shea butter to 1/8 cup and up the cocoa butter by 1/8 cup; or use another butter like mango or kokum butter in place of the shea butter. You can also substitute other light oils for the sweet almond oil, such as jojoba, hemp, sunflower, or grapeseed oil.
Magical Body Butter Blend: Serenity
This Magical Body Butter Blend uses the soothing energies of jasmine, rose, and ylang-ylang to create a blend that attracts balance and peace. The pale blue candle and amethyst, jade, and moonstone used to bless it also work to underline peace and to calm stress.
What You Need:
♦ 1 recipe Body Butter (see recipe in this chapter)
♦ 4 drops jasmine essential oil
♦ 4 drops rose essential oil
♦ 2 drops lavender essential oil
♦ Pale blue candle and candleholder
♦ Matches or lighter
♦ Amethyst stone
♦ Jade stone
♦ Moonstone
What to Do:
1. Prepare the Body Butter as per the previous recipe, adding the jasmine, rose, and lavender oils where essential oils are indicated in the recipe.
2. When the Magical Body Butter is finished and placed in the container, bring it to your work space. Set the candle in the center of the work space, place the container of butter in front of it, and arrange the three stones in a semicircle in front of the container.
3. Light the pale blue candle, and say:
Spirits of serenity,
I invite you here.
Lend to this butter your peace, your calm.
May I be blessed by you each time I use it.
4. Touch the amethyst and say, “Amethyst, I invoke your calm. Lend it to this butter.”
5. Touch the jade and say, “Jade, I invoke your tranquility. Lend it to this butter.”
6. Touch the moonstone and say, “Moonstone, I invoke your peace. Lend it to this butter.”
7. Sit at your work space with your eyes closed, breathing deeply, sensing the calm around you. When you feel it is right, you may extinguish the candle and leave, or allow the candle to burn down completely to continue to charge the butter.